Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Discussing pay... and writeups.

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Discussing pay... and writeups.

    Everyone in my store starts at $10/hour if they're entry level, regardless of department. Over the years, if minimum wage has gone up and an employee was below the new minimum, they'd get a bump to minimum (but as you can see, we pay quite a bit above minimum).

    Of course, people discuss their pay or bitch about it sometimes. I was BSing with a coworker about how small my check was due to missing a close to a week because of my medical issues and being out of paid time off, she asked how much my check was. I told her ~$500.

    Her eyes got wide and she told me 2 weeks worth only gets her about $650. She's been with the company for 8 years, I've been there for close to 4. She also contributes a little more toward her 401k than I do, but my checks are usually around $750-800. If there's a good bonus on that check, I'll come real close to breaking $1000 (net).

    Turns out that after 8 years, she only makes 10.75. I make 12.00. We both get the same monthly bonus (based on hours worked).

    On the other hand, there are no automatic raises. You have to request a "job dialog" with your manager. In your first year you can snag raises at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. After that it's yearly, unless you transfer to another store or dept, then it starts over again (but you keep your pay). I've had 3 of them, and got the maximum raise allowed in 2 and close to the max allowed in 1 of them (my first one, max raise was 10%, they've dropped it to 5% since then).

    The stickler is, you can't be on "final" when you ask for a job dialog, final meaning you have 2 active writeups for the same thing. In fact, if you're on "final", you can't do anything whatsoever... no transfers, no promotions, nothing, you're stuck where you are until the final writeup expires.

    She's one of those that's chronically on final, as soon as one writeup expires, she gets back on it. Actually, I'm on final for the second time myself - the catagory both of us are on it for has writeups lasting for 6 months, after which one writeup expires, then the original one goes away 6 months after that. Most writeups last a year unless they're for attendance (which is what we've both been nailed for, difference being I've missed a lot of work due to medical issues and finally got approved for FMLA, she misses a bit because of hangovers).

  • #2
    Need to be careful discussing pay with coworkers. One place I worked threatened to fire people for that, saying "pay is a personal and private thing." Well, that wasn't true; we did discuss our paychecks and found _huge_ inequities between what everybody was getting. Seems the boss was playing games and favorites...

    Despite his rule, we found out he was jerking us around and it caused a _lot_ of resentment among myself and my coworkers. It was one of many reasons we all eventually moved on with no regrets...

    Comment


    • #3
      Believe it or not, if I want to, I can find out the pay of every single person in the company on the company intranet. I'd have to know their employee ID # first, or full legal first and last name with middle initial.

      They're all about open door policies. The company handbook mentions discussion, but doesn't specifically allow or disallow conversing among coworkers.

      Comment


      • #4
        It sounds like shes acing herself out of raises if you cant get a raise while on write up and she continually gets herself written up, unless the managers just dislike her for some reason..? Eight years at the same wage though, eesh.
        Thou shalt not take the name of thy goddess Whiskey in vain.

        Comment


        • #5
          I've learned to be really careful when discussing wages and raises. My last job in MI, raises were 5 cents for anyone the manager didn't like, which covered most of the women. The guys got higher raises even though they didn't work as hard.

          One male CW who was on the head manager's bad side was getting less than $8 an hour for having ordering privileges and being a closing manager. He had been there just as long as some people with similar responsibilities getting paid over a dollar more. He decided to not put forth the extra effort they were accustomed to getting from him and let the high school kids do his stock. That got him in trouble, but he got a raise to over $8 after the manager found out his reasoning.

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth eltf177 View Post
            Need to be careful discussing pay with coworkers. One place I worked threatened to fire people for that, saying "pay is a personal and private thing." Well, that wasn't true; we did discuss our paychecks and found _huge_ inequities between what everybody was getting. Seems the boss was playing games and favorites...

            Despite his rule, we found out he was jerking us around and it caused a _lot_ of resentment among myself and my coworkers. It was one of many reasons we all eventually moved on with no regrets...
            according to the US DOL and the FLSA workers CAN NOT be forbidden by company policy or rule (written or unwritten) or by management from discussing their wages on or off the job. you can not be threatened with disciplinary action (up to and including termination) for having said discussions
            I'm lost without a paddle and headed up SH*T creek.
            -- Life Sucks Then You Die.


            "I'll believe corp. are people when Texas executes one."

            Comment


            • #7
              What specifically says that, Racket_Man? I'm curious as I've had employers make it a no-no as well.

              Comment


              • #8
                This is why I enjoy my company's system. There are a few different job titles (mainly helper, main job, supervisor, manager etc etc) When you begin work you start at the base wage. As a helper you make the bottom amount. As a main job you get the next step up (generally increments of 50c) Every X amount of hours you work brings your wage up by 50c. Until you hit, roughly, the 15th step then it becomes Y amount of hours before your next wage increase. Supervisors (my job) make a certain amount above the top rate a helper and main job employee can make but dont have a regular wage increase. Managers are the first level of salaried personnel.

                This way everyone knows, roughly, how much everyone else makes and avoids awkward conversations about wages.
                Fan? This is shit. Shit? Meet fan.

                Comment

                Working...
                X